Stamps honour indigenous artists

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned this story contains images of deceased persons.

Two East Kimberley artists have been featured in the latest commemorative stamp issue from Australia Post.

The issue features work by artists from the Western Desert region including the late Boxer Milner and Eubena Nampitjin, both associated with the Warlayirti Artists in Balgo.

Milner’s stamp features his 1999 artwork Milnga-Milnga, the artist’s birthplace, which is part of the National Gallery of Australia collection.

The senior lawman of the Jaru people, who was born in 1935 and died in 2009, was a custodian of the Purkitjii (Sturt Creek) area.

Milnga-Milnga relates to the Sturt Creek flood plain between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert.

Nampitjin’s untitled 2000 work, which is housed at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, was among her art focusing on her homelands around Tjintalpa in the Great Sandy Desert.

Nampitjin was born in 1925 and died in 2013.

She was highly regarded as a law woman as well as an artist in the Balgo community.

Warlayirti Artists is an Aboriginal-owned and governed, not-for-profit group that supports the cultural traditions of the Wirrimanu (Balgo), Kururrrungku (Billiluna) and Mulan communities.

Established in 1987, Warlayirti Artists represents more than 200 artists across the three communities which are in the Kutjungka region of WA.

Australia Post philatelic manager Michael Zsolt said the new stamp issue highlighted the uniqueness and individuality of Australian Indigenous art. work.

“The Western Desert in Australia is unlike any other in the world, and these works allow us to see it through the eyes of those who have an intimate relationship with the region,” he said.

Stamps showing work from the artists’ co-operative at Papunya Tula in the Northern Territory by Fred Ward Tjungurrayi and Walter Tjampitjinpa have also been released as part of the stamps issue.

The four domestic base rate stamps, designed by Simone Sakinofsky, are available along with other products associated with this issue; a first day cover, a stamp pack, and maxicards.

The $1.10 Art of the Desert stamps and associated products, are available at participating post offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794, and online at auspost.com.au/stamps, while stocks last.